Cops:Carjackers kill 2 women

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Gunmen carjacked a U.S. Embassy vehicle on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital Saturday and killed the wife of an embassy employee and his mother-in-law. Police later killed two of the carjackers.

Carjackings are common around Nairobi, and Kenya’s government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, said Saturday’s violence was believed to be “a random attack.”

“The thugs ordered the two women out but they hesitated,” said Isaiah Osugo, a criminal investigator. “Then they were shot.”

The victims were the wife and mother-in-law of a U.S. Embassy employee, said Robert Kerr, an embassy spokesman.

“These were people who loved Kenya,” Kerr said.

He did not provide other details.

The attackers, who were armed with assault rifles, escaped with the embassy vehicle, said Francis Munyambu, Nairobi’s deputy provisional police officer. Police later killed two of the carjackers, police spokesman Gideon Kibunja said.

Earlier in the day, the men commandeered another vehicle along the same road, according to Munyambu.

“Four men with AK-47s carjacked me,” Michael Madine said. After being interviewed by police he told The Associated Press that one of the carjackers stayed in the car with him while the others attacked the embassy vehicle.

“I heard one of the women screaming and then I heard three gunshots,” Madine said, adding that the assailants then fled.

The shooting happened just off a highway in Kinoo, about 12 miles outside Nairobi. An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw two pools of blood on the roadside.

In September, the chief U.S. military attache was shot and seriously wounded in a carjacking in Nairobi. Russia’s ambassador was stabbed in a robbery on Aug. 20. A month earlier, a Danish diplomat was attacked and robbed.